franklin



3 Sheets-8110911 (Nq ModeL) B; A. FRANKLIN. MACHINE FOR LOADING CARTRIDGES.

No. 347,030. Patented Aug. 1Q, 1886.

no moael asneetssneez z.

E. A. FRANKLIN. MACHINE r011 LOADING CARTRIDGES. No. 347,030. v Patented Aug. 10, 1886.

(No Model.) 3.Sheets-Sheet 3.

B. A. FRANKLIN? MACHINE FOR LOADING GARTRIDG SQ v No. s47,0s0. Patented Aug. 10, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ED\VARD A. FRANKLIN, 0F BRENHAM, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO BAILEY, FARRELL & C0,, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE F'OR LOADING CARTRIDIGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NT). 347,030, dated August 10, .1886.

(No model To aZZ whom it may concern: 1

Be itknown that I, EDWARD A. FRANKLIN;

a citizen of the United States, residing at Brenham, in the county of \Vashington and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Loading Cartridges, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for loading cartridge-shells; and the purpose thereof is to provide mechanism by which the several stepsin the process of loading shall be auto-v It is also my purpose matically performed. to so organize the mechanism that the measurement of the powder, the inserting of the wad, the load of shot, and its insertion and confinement in the shell may all be effected by the same mechanism, either simultaneouslyor by successive operations.

It'is my further purpose to provide means for feeding the wads to the shells,whereby the failure of the supply shall effect an immediate and automatic stoppage of the mechanism, thereby calling attention to the deficiency.

It is also a purpose of my invenlion to supply novel means for measuring the charge and for cutting oil the hopper supply and the charger automatically and successively.

It is a further purpose of my invention to supply novel mechanism for feeding and measnring the shot from the shot-hopper to the chargers and shells, and for cutting off the hopper and chargers successively.

The invention consists in the several novel features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fnllydescriber,and definitely pointed out in the claims annexed to this specification.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken through the hopper audplungers and longitudinally of the charging-box. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section in the plane of the lever operating the plungcrs. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the several working parts in detail in proper relshowing a modification of the mechanism showln in Fig. 1. Fig. Sis a detail plan view of the devices connecting the cut-oil's of the twohoppers and chargers of Fig. 7.

In the said drawings, the refercnce-nunieral 1 designates the bed-plate of the machine mounted upon a suitable block, 2, in which is formed achainber underlying the front edge of the bed-plate. Upon the latter is nounted upon a bracket, 3, a lover, I, carrying the plungcrs 5, which may be of any number, although .for sportsmens use I prefer using either two, as shown in Fig. 1, or four, as in Fig. 7. These plnngers reciprocate vertically through the bed-plate and are guided by metall c guides 6, directly behind which are placed the wad-holders 7 ,composed of upright tubes of suitablelength and size, each having pins or studs 8, proiectingfrom opposite sides near the top for a purpose present ly' to be ex plained.

The bottoms of the winl-holdi-rs are formed by the bed-plate 1, and upon the front side of eacluadjaccntto said plate, is formed a semiannular opening, il,(seo Fig. 3,) to permit the wads to pass into the guides 1i.

Lying upon the bed-plate, behind the wadholders, is :1 flat plate, 10, having at its forward end a fork, ll, which reciprocales between the legs ofan upright bracket, 12, and guided also by a loop, 12;, riveted upon the bed-plate. 'lhe extrclnil-iesof the fork llare cut out upon anal-c of aeircleofsnch sizeas to substantially fititheedges of the wads,nnd, the

branches ofsaid for-k enter openings in the lower ends of the wzul-lioldm's, nsshown in Fig. 3.

Upon the top of the plate 1.0 is mounted a vertical plate, 11, having an arm, 15, the forward edge of which is curved and engages with a frictionroll, 1G, journaled on a bracket, 17, depending fronrtho lever -l. Mounted upon the bed-plate and engaging with the phtte 1-1 is a spring, 18, which norinallythrows the hand (proper) of the plunger-s are the measuring-ehargers 20, composed of two or more tubes having each a telescoping section, 21, the upper end of which is attached to anti opens into a hopper-box, 22. l'pon the tlottr of this box is arranged a slide-plate, 23, having openings 24-, which in one position of the plate register with the open ends of the tubes of the chargers, and in another position close said openings. ()neendot' this plate projects beyondthe end ot the hopper-box, and engages with a spring, 25,-mounted on the bedplate, andnormally throwing the eut-ot't' into position to give open communication with the chargers. t'pon the projecting end of said plate or cutetl' is also mounted a slide-plate, 26, which lies against the, front of the hopperbox and rceeives support t'rom aloop, 2?, upon the other endot' the box. The end of the slideplate it; is brought: under the lever t, and its edge is curved, as shown at 28, Fig, 1, to engage with a striker, 2!), carried by the lever, by which the ClllrOi l 132i is thrown back against the aetion ol' the spring 25, and the openings illelosed. lieneath the ehargers llhnnd lying against the under t'aeeot' the lltftl-llltlil,l5il. sec mid and similar eutot'l', .ltl, aetnated by a seeend and somewhat similar slideplate, ill. As this latter is placed beneath the slidepl'atelti, the :n-tion ot the. lev r t is successive. operatin; lirst on eut-ot'l', 2 and then theolher, Jill, said ent -ol'l's being rel raeted, the tormer by the spring 27 and the latterbyasiinilarspringAlZ, Fig. -l, in reverse order-i. the ent-otl' .ltl opens as the tirst, 123;, closes.

'lhc h pper-b x 2'. receives a removable 1|opper,.;I; havingopeningsin itsboltomwhieh register wit h the openings it. amt the hopperbottom is also closed by an independent eutol't', .H,'to enable itto be removed l'rom the hopper-ho}; at any time, tor a purpose. presently to be. shown. 7

'lheeonst ruetion heretol'oredeseribed issntrh that the distanee between the centers of the chargers .30 and guides ti is the same, and the chargers are also equal in number to the numberot'plungers employed, for obvious reasons.

In order-to provide l'orthe necessity of using loads of dil'l'erent measurenn-nt, the tt'lest'op- Eng tubes 2t and the hopper-box mounted on them are made vertically adjustable by means of a threaded rod, .lz'i, depending from the bottom ol the hopper-box, and engaging with a thumb-nut. 3t which lies between two supmrti.n; -;-plates, 37, by which the hopper-box and tube-sections 2t maybe raised and lowered and the capacity of the elnn'gers increased or diminished. graduated scale. may be marked upon one or both ol' the teleseoping sections, to guide the operator in limiting the adjustment.

The cartridge shells are arranged in ehainbers in a eharging blot-1;, .'l.\' eonlaining any desired number ot neh eham'ners arranged in one eonseenlive series, the distanee bet ween their renters being equal to that between the cent rs l' the ehargers and plunger guides.

This block is provided with a metal strip, 39,

-running along one vertical face at or near its bottom, and provided at intervals with openings 40. The said block is arranged to slide in a chamber beneath the front; edge of the bed-plate 1, wherein it is guided by a front vertical plate, 41. In the latter is formed a horizontal slot, 42, which receives the end of a bolt, 5}, having disks it lying against opposite faces of the plate 41, and allowing the bolt;-

to slide freely in its slot. \Vithin the bolt is placed a dog, 45, Fig. 5, normally pushed outward by a spring, -16, and draw a back by a trigger, 47. The position ofthe parts is such that as the end of the charging-block enters the chamber behind the plate 41(the dog 45 being retracted for such purpose) the bolt; 4-3, being pushed to the outer end of the slot 42, will engage its dog 45 with the first opening 40 in the base of the charging-block. It, now, the bolt is drawn to the opposite or inner end of the said slot, it will carry the charging block to the point, where the. first two shells in the block will lie under and register with the openings in the lower ends of the chargers 20. Having received their load of powder,

the bolt is slid hack to engage with the next,

opening in the block, and again carried forward, bringing the loaded shells under the plungers, ready to receive the wads, and expressing the two sueeceding shells to the chargers. lt maybe remarked thatthismode of feeding the charging-block may be used on any machine, no matter how many shells are loaded at. once, it only being necessary that the slot -12 shall be. of the length required.

The operation ol'the partsthus described is as l'ollows: Powder is put in the hopper 33, whit-h is then placed in the hopper-box 22,

and the eut-oll' Ill opened by a pin, 48, moving in a slot in the hopper-wall, and having a set-nut, it), turning thereon to lock the cut.- olt' in position. \\'ads are placed in the wad-holders 7, and the charging-block, tilled with empty shells is introduced and moved under I he chargers, as already explained. The lever -t is now raised, releasing both the slideplates :36 and Zlt,closing the ent-ol't'lltl and opening 21;. The chargers .H are at once filled from the hopper, and the level-4 being then thrown down, the upper cut-oil, 223, is closed and the lower one, 230, is opened, allowing the powder to run into the shells from the chargers. The charging-block being now moved along, the charged shells are brought, under the plungers, and the lever 4 being raised to again till the chargers, two wads are taken out of the wadholders by the fork ll and carried into the guides t3, beneath the plungers, which descend upon the next movement ol the lever and drive the wads home. '.lhese latterare l'ed downward inthe holders 7, as follows: A head, so, of suit:- able size, is t'astencd upon one end ot' a spiral spring, and the latter is attached b its other end to and inside of a cap, 51, ha\ ing bayonet joint slots 32 engaging with the pins n the wad-holders. The tension of these springs holds the wads down and presses them forward as each is taken outin succession, until, finally, as the last wad is consumed, the driving-head 50 is brought down upon the floor of the wadholder. As this head is too thick to pass out of the slot 9, it follows that upon the consecutive upward movement of the lever the fork will not be thrown forward, and attention will thereby be directed to the fact. After the shells have all been filled with powder and received th wads, the hopper 33 may be. removed, first closing the cut-off 34, and a shot-hopper of similar construction substituted, whereupon the operation is repeated, the only difference being that shot is loaded instead of powder. I may, however, load the powder and shot at the same time by a duplication of certain parts. In Fig. 7 Iliave shown such an organization, in which four plungcrs are carried by the lever 4 on a cross-head, 53, two of said plungers driving the wad forthe powder and two for the shot. The chargers and other apparatus for the powder are similar to those already described, and for the shot I place upon the other side of the lever shot-chargers 20*,adjustable in capacity in the manner already described, the only material, difi'erence being that the lower ends of the charger-tubes are 7 claims.

curved inward, and to carry the shot into the plunger guides o", by which it is carried to the shells. The upper cut-oil, 23, for the shot-hop per 33 is actuated by the slidebar 26, which is connected with said cut-off by an arm, 53,- Fig. 8. The lower cut-ot't', 30, is connected to the slide-plate iii/by an arm, 54, so that the cut-offs on both sides are operated by the striker 25). i 7

It is necessary, of course, that wad-feeders for the'shot'chargers shall be provided, and these are duplicates ofthose already described.

In the modification just described two shells are loaded simultaneously, first receiving the powder and wads, then the shot and the coin fining-wads. I may of course load any numbenwithin reasonable limits; but for sportsmens use the size shown is preferable, though in a factory the machine may be very greatly enlarged. I

The plungcrs 5 may be made adjustable in length by means oi'a threaded bolt, 5.3,connecting two sections of said plunger, as shown in Fig. 2. in this manner the plnngers may be adapted to drive the wads on aload of shot of any weight and size, and may be adj ustcd to suit the adjustment of the powder-chargcrs, a scale being also added, if desired, to guide such zuljustment.

lt is evident that i may make the adjust ment of the charging block automatic, by either connecting it to the lcvcri by an intermediate dcvicc actuated by said lover, or by reciprocating the bolt 42; in some similar way; and this automatic action oi said block is within the plain limitations of my invention and \Vhat I claim as my invention is 1. The combination of a hopper, adjustable telescopic tube-sections forming chargers, a chargingbloek containing chambers for the shells, and a chamber in which said block is 'inovable lengthwise beneath the chargers, submechanism, of wad-holders located behind guides in which plungers reciprocate vertically,.a forked plate entering said holders and taking out the wads, a vertical plate mounted on said forked plate and having a curved edge,

a friction-roll carried by a bracket on the plunger-lever and engaging with said edge, and spring throwing said forked plate'forward, substantially as described.

4. lhecombination, with vertical cylindrt cal wad-holders having feed-openings at the bottom, of drivingheads actuated by springs compressed in the wad-holders, aspring-actuated wad-fceding plate entering the bottom of 4 the holder and pushing the wad out through the i'eedbpening, and -a pivoted verticallyswinging' lever having a yielding connection with the wad-ieeding plate, substantially as described.

5. The combination,with the charging mechanism, or wad fcediin and driving devices actuated by a vertieafiy rcciprocating lever, a vertical plate mounted on the wad-.l'eedcr and having a curved edge with a shoulder above the curve, an arm carried by the lever and having a lriction-roll engaging with the edge of the plate, and aspring normally throwing the feeding device forward, substantially as described.

U. The combination,with feeding and charging mechanism, of a chargingblock containing chambers for the shells and having openings on one side at regular intervals, a chamber in which said block moves beneaththe chargers, and a bolt moving in a slot in the wall of said clnnnb'cr and carrying a dog engaging automatically with said openings, substantially as described.

7. The combiuatiomwith a vcrtioally-reciprocating lever carrying two or more plungers, of a. hopper, chargers communicating therewith, separate cut-oil's closing the upper and lower ends 01 the charging-tubes, separate 125 8; The combination,with a vertically-recip- 13o rocating lever, of plungers carried'thereby, guides in which said plungers move, wad- IlO holders behind and communicating with said guides at their bottom, a forked wad-feeding plate thrown forward by a spring, an arm on the lever retracting said plate, charging de vices having an independent upper and lower cutoff operated in one direction by springs, and slide-plates connected to said cut-offs and v operated by an arm or striker on thelever,

substantially as described.

9. The combination, with a lever carrying plui'lgers on each side thereof, of powdercharging devices upon one side and shot-chargin'g devices upon the other,cach having an independent upper and lower cut-otl, devices conncciingthe upper and lower cutofi'on the shotchargers rcspectivcl and an arm on the lever engaging successively with slide-plates connected with the cut-oils upon one side of the lever,substantially as described.

10. The combination, with a lever-carrying pl ungcrs in guides, of wad-holders behind and communicating with said guides, a Wad-feeding plate reciprocating beneath the ends of the holders, a spring on the bedplate engaging with the feed, and an arm on the lever engag ing with the curved edge of a vertical plate on the feed and giving the teed-plate reciprocation, automatic cut-oil's at top and bottom of the chargers, an interchangeablehopper having a cut-oil in its bottom, and a ehargingblock having chambers in a single series adapted to be fed beneath the chargers and pl lingers, substantially as described.

11. The combination, with the hopper box, of the cnt-oil' in its bottom, the adjustable telescoping sections entering its bottom, the chargers mounted on the bed-plate, a cut-off closing their lower ends, springs actuating said cut-offs in one direction, a striker carried by the lever actuating the wad-drivers, and a cam-surface on a device-connected with each cut-off, said cams being arranged one below the other,whereby they are successively operated by the lever and the separate actuating springs, substantially as described.

12. The combination, witln the hopper-box and the adjustable telescoping tubeseetions, of the chargers communicating therewith, an interchangeable hopper fitting within the hopper-box, a cut-off in the bottom of said hopper, and means for locking said cut-off in either position, substantially as described.

13. The combination, with the wad-driving plungers, of guides supporting the samawadholders behind and communicating with said guides, a feed-plate taking the wads from the holders into the guides, a charging-block having shells arranged in a sihgle series, powdercharging mechanism located on one side of the plungers, a bolt having a spring-actuated dog engaging with openings in the charging-block, and a slot in the wall of the chamber limiting each movement of the bolt, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I allix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDXVARD A. FRANKLIN.

Vitnesses:

James L. Noaais, Jos. L. (Booties. 

